Lincoln's last words

[loetar44]

Good search Eva! This all is highly interesting. I quote from Ted Widmer’s “Christmas With Lincoln". The same words Eva quoted and Widmer's conclusion. Ted Widmer is not only seen as a journalist, writer, librarian, political observer, but also as a scholar of American history, so I respect his words deeply.

Quote:

There are several competing traditions about Lincoln’s final words, but a fascinating claim was advanced by the Rev. N. W. Miner of Springfield, who officiated at Lincoln’s burial. In a scrapbook at the Library of Congress, he registered the following claim about Lincoln’s last seconds:

Mrs. Lincoln informed me that the last day he lived was the happiest of his life. The very last moments of his conscious life were spent in conversation with her about his future plans, and what he wanted to do when his term of office expired. He said he wanted to visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the Saviour. He was saying there was no city he so much desired to see as Jerusalem, and with the words half spoken on his tongue, the bullet of the assassin entered his brain, and the soul of the great and good President was carried by the angels to the New Jerusalem above.

Lincoln would have hated that flowery language, but the point is arresting. It is said that the word Jerusalem was halfway out of his mouth, and came out “Jeru—.”

Unquote

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/201...blogs&_r=0